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Gaming the H-1B system for good

blog.triplebyte.com

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Re: Gaming the H-1B system for good

#11

Post by untog »

This is an interesting idea. H1B visas are entirely transferrable, but some employees never find that out (the shady outsourcing companies aren't exactly incentivised to point it out). That said, whenever I've transferred my H1B my future employer has been paying for it - if they didn't, I'd be suspicious about how committed they really are. So, if Triplebyte (a hiring agency) pays it instead of the employer then, sure, go crazy. But it doesn't make a huge difference to me.

That said, I can see opportunity for a hiring agency that is knowledgable about the H1B process and could even refer lawyers to companies. Many new startups have no idea what they're doing, and are turned off from employing people on H1Bs because of it.

Re: Gaming the H-1B system for good

#12

Post by mehrdada »

anovikov wrote: post #4

Is it the lottery in the literal sense? I.e. are applicants who match the requirements and wanted by employers are randomly selected just as the DV lottery winners are?

Yes. There are two lotteries: one exclusively for people with US Masters or PhD degrees (20000 winners) and one for the rest. If you do have a US advanced degree and don't win the first lottery, you have one more chance in the wider applicant pool.

Re: Gaming the H-1B system for good

#13

Post by Harj »

Joky wrote: post #3

It tries to hurt the big outsourcing companies, but unless it manages to transfer (tens of) thousands of engineers each year they just won't notice it... Also, very often a company needs someone qualified and found a particular candidate they want and tries to apply for him. I'm not sure how taking one of the many low qualified "engineer" coming with these outsourcing companies would fit the need here.

We do full technical interviews with applicants and at this point, we have a pretty solid dataset on how to calibrate them and would be confident any engineers we're working with have the skills startups are looking for.

Our goal isn't to directly hurt the outsourcing companies, it's to help talented engineers find work they enjoy and not be held back by visa fears. Even doing that for a few people would be worthwhile.

Re: Gaming the H-1B system for good

#14

Post by Harj »

untog wrote: post #11

This is an interesting idea. H1B visas are entirely transferrable, but some employees never find that out (the shady outsourcing companies aren't exactly incentivised to point it out). That said, whenever I've transferred my H1B my future employer has been paying for it - if they didn't, I'd be suspicious about how committed they really are. So, if Triplebyte (a hiring agency) pays it instead of the employer then, su…

We do indeed refer lawyers to companies, in particular ones who have filed a number of these petitions for YC startups in the past so we know they're good.

Re: Gaming the H-1B system for good

#15

Post by kgp7 »

This assumes that the H1B's filed by the outsourcing companies are engineers your startup would want to hire. Unfortunately thats not true, most good quality engineers are almost never employed by these outsourcing firms. The general nature of their work also is mostly maintenance based , and it tends to attract bottom of the barrel 'engineers' who often couldn't find any other job. I am skeptical whether any of these 'engineers' would pass the interview gauntlet at many startups.

Re: Gaming the H-1B system for good

#16

Post by bradleyjg »

anovikov wrote: post #4

Is it the lottery in the literal sense? I.e. are applicants who match the requirements and wanted by employers are randomly selected just as the DV lottery winners are?

Yes. And, as alluded to in the article, one of the things the body-shops do to game the system is flood as many applications as possible, knowing that they won't get all of them and not caring which ones they do or don't get.

Perhaps the petition fee should be non-refundable for H1B dependent employers.

Re: Gaming the H-1B system for good

#17

Post by sremani »

Joky wrote: post #3

It tries to hurt the big outsourcing companies, but unless it manages to transfer (tens of) thousands of engineers each year they just won't notice it... Also, very often a company needs someone qualified and found a particular candidate they want and tries to apply for him. I'm not sure how taking one of the many low qualified "engineer" coming with these outsourcing companies would fit the need here.

I would not call low qualified engineers, by there is a lot of mismatch. For eg. more and more H1Bs look like App based like SAP, Oracle, Business Intelligence etc. kind of skills set. There are some Application General purpose programmers and far few System level programmers. H1-B (in Outsourcing shops) talent pool is not such a Gold mine when you take into account the kind of skill-set needed for start-ups. Its a needle in the hay-stack situation. But some companies and some talent may very well benefit from this but not at a scale that would change the dynamics.

Re: Gaming the H-1B system for good

#18

Post by arikp9396 »

considering YC expansion in hardware region, why they are still inclined in hiring programmers, considering that hardware startup needs hardware techie and makers? Please help me sort this out. (Apologies for being out of topic)

Re: Gaming the H-1B system for good

#19

Post by harichinnan »

I was on H1B with a true blue American startup. They developed cold feet when it came closer to sponsoring Green Cards. To start with GC wage levels are much higher than H1B levels. Also close to 15K+ needs to be spent for processing+ years of patient follow up to USCIS queries/denials and surprise site inspections. The new fangled startups won't have the long term strategy/planning to get me a green card. I had much better luck with a staffing vendor running an office off his basement. People misunderstand the H1B outsourcer lock-in. They hold people in through green card processes/delays. Not through H1B itself. Google for Employment based GC delays for Indians and Chinese.

Re: Gaming the H-1B system for good

#20

Post by harichinnan »

harichinnan wrote: post #19

I was on H1B with a true blue American startup. They developed cold feet when it came closer to sponsoring Green Cards. To start with GC wage levels are much higher than H1B levels. Also close to 15K+ needs to be spent for processing+ years of patient follow up to USCIS queries/denials and surprise site inspections. The new fangled startups won't have the long term strategy/planning to get me a green card. I had much…

You can help end this by supporting legislation. https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/213
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